Visting
by Firenza
Summary: Six years after the bus crash that killed several of her peers, Veronica Mars finds herself going back to Neptune to visit those who have died. AU after second season.


A/N: I do not own Veronica Mars or any of the characters in this fic. Ideas are my own.

Visiting

Veronica sighs as she walked into the cemetery. She did not want to be here. But she did not turn around ad leave the place that haunted her. She couldn't. Every year she came and every year she hated it. The guilt was almost too much for her to handle. It had been six years since the bus crash. The crash that was meant to kill her. She had been saved by a vision of Lily and a conversation with Weevil. Veronica smiled when she thought about Weevil or Eli as he liked to be called now. It was too weird for Veronica to think of her old friend as Eli. She was one of the few people that he still let call him Weevil. His wife didn't even call him Weevil. He owns a motorcycle repair shop outside of San Diego but he comes back to Neptune faithfully every month to visit his Grandmother and his little sister Cara.

Veronica is startled out of her thoughts when she trips over a tree root hidden in the grass. She curses softly and vows to pay more attention to where she is going. She's almost there now. To the first grave.

She stops when she reaches the simple headstone and thinks back to the weeks and months following the bus crash. There had been so much grief, so much suspicion, and so many revelations. Veronica didn't like to think about those days. She had been consumed with guilt and vowed to uncover who was responsible for the loss of so many lives. Her dad was the one who did most of the investigating. Veronica had been distracted by the problems of various friends and classmates and the cases she took on their behalf. She remembered one particular case involving the girlfriend of her best friend Wallace. That girl was such a bitch. She humiliated Veronica on a local TV show and created a rift in Veronica's friendship with Wallace.

Veronica shook her head as she walked to the next grave and muttered angrily when she remembered the fight she had with Wallace. But it all turned out all right in the end. After a brief time in Chicago, Wallace came home to Neptune and he and Veronica made up. Thankfully, he and Jackie did not manage to make up. He became Neptune's star basketball player and went on to play ball in college. Now, he lived in Chicago and followed in the footsteps of his father. He became a cop much to the chagrin of his mother and my step-mother Alicia. She and my dad got married about two years ago. The wedding was small and intimate. Alicia looked beautiful and my Dad looked happy. I was happy for them. I still am.

Veronica hurried along the now familiar path, eager to end her yearly visit and yet dreading what lie at the end of it. She reached the next stop of her journey, a quiet clearing where she saw 3 more graves.

She walked over to the graves and said a silent prayer for her fallen classmates. She looked up toward the next set of graves and sighed. Lily's grave was over there as well. She hated seeing Lily's grave more than anything. It brought back so many bad memories. Memories of Duncan and Logan and even Logan's father, Aaron Echolls. To a time in Veronica's life when she couldn't trust anyone.

Something yellow near Lily's grave caught Veronica's eye. It was a single yellow rose. Veronica smiled because Lily loved roses, especially long stem yellow roses. In fact, roses are the only flower that Lily liked. She absolutely hated the flower she was named after. In eighth grade, a boy named Zach made the mistake of giving her a bouquet of lilies on Valentine's Day. Lily went nuts. She threw the lilies into the garbage and said loudly, "There's nothing worse than an unimaginative boy, Veronica Mars. I mean honestly, lilies for Lily. How stupid is that?" _That's strange,_ Veronica thought, _Jake and Celeste moved years ago and Logan's in New York writing. And Duncan? Well, he's gone._

Sadness overcame Veronica when she thought of Duncan, her first love. There had been others of course, and Veronica couldn't forget her second attempt at a relationship with Logan but no one could ever compete with Duncan. She thought about him a lot. Especially whenever she came back to Neptune or went to Mexico for a case. She always hoped that she would enter some seedy little Mexican bar and see Duncan across the room. Their eyes would meet and—well you get the picture. It was foolish and it was impossible and no matter how much she tried to talk herself out of it, she always felt that sting of disappointment when she didn't see him.

Her Dad worried about her sometimes. He was always encouraging her to go out and have fun, meet some new people, and even date a little. Veronica hated when he talked like that. She was no virgin. She had had boyfriends. Veronica just needed some time to get settled in San Diego. At least, that was the excuse she'd been giving for the past year and a half. Now it was starting to wear thin even to her own ears.

Veronica continued along the worn cemetery path. She still had several graves to visit and she also has to stop and see her father before she goes back to San Diego. And she had several cases waiting for her when she got home. She never had much free time anymore. Veronica sighed. _Well, at least I'm never bored. _

A/N: This is my first multi-chapter effort. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be done. I know where I want the story to go. I'm just not there yet.


End file.
